Tourists are coming to Louisiana because of what they've seen in movies and TV shows. Now, the Bayou State is making it easier for tourists to visit the places where the productions took place.
That information comes from a study released in April by the Louisiana Office of Tourism and market research firm MDRG. It estimates that 9 percent of visitors were influenced by viewing productions filmed and set in Louisiana.
Now you can easily find those locations through a new movie trail Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser unveiled Aug. 23 at an annual tourism summit. He plans to unveil it to Chinese counterparts on an international trip over Labor Day weekend.
He said young Chinese travelers are an emerging market when it comes to international travel.
More than 2,500 films have been shot in Louisiana, featuring the likes of Dolly Parton, Brad Pitt and the King himself, Elvis Presley.
There are at least 25 travel sites on the trail.
From "All the King's Men" in downtown Baton Rouge to "The Beyond" in Madisonville to "Steel Magnolias" in Natchitoches, you can see where it all went down — and for free or a few bucks.
Some you can see from your car. Others invite you in for a tour of a museum, like the Otis House at Fairview-Riverside State Park or the Bonnie and Clyde Museum in Gibsland.
And, of course, movies and television shows continue to be filmed across Louisiana, thanks to the state's natural beauty, rich history and the Motion Pictures Investor Tax Credit.
The state-sponsored program offers companies a 40 percent tax credit on movies filmed in Louisiana. That includes a 25 percent base credit, a 10 percent increase for Louisiana screenplay productions and an extra 5 percent for films done outside the New Orleans metro area.
A map of the movie trail and more on each site can be found at louisianatravel.com/film. You also can submit a filming location to be added to the trail.
The new trail connects already established movie trails in different parts of the state, such as the Webster Parish Film Trail, New Orleans Plantation Country Film Trail, Shreveport-Bossier's Film Trail and Cajun Coast Film Trail.
The Louisiana movie trail features these films and locations:
- All the King's Men, Baton Rouge
- Belizaire the Cajun, St. Martinville
- The Beyond, Madisonville
- The Blaze, Winnfield
- The Blob, Abbeville
- Bonnie and Clyde, Gibsland
- The Buccaneer, New Iberia
- Dead Man Walking, Angola
- Desire in the Dust, St. Francisville
- Duck Dynasty, West Monroe
- Easy Rider, Morganza
- Evangeline, St. Martinville
- Eve's Bayou, Madisonville
- Horse Soldiers, Natchez
- Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte, Darrow
- Interview with a Vampire, Vacherie
- King Creole, New Orleans
- Long, Hot Summer, New Roads
- Ray, Thibodaux
- Steel Magnolias, Natchitoches
- Toy, Baton Rouge
- White Rose, New Iberia
